MSGID: 1:379/45 9b68eb56
 TZUTC: -0500
 CHARSET: PC-8
From: John Beckett 

Sorry I haven't been able to join in the moaning about Vista (I haven't tried
it), so I thought I would whinge about something else that's really been
bugging me for a while.

While cleaning up, I found I had a "Microsoft Encarta 97 World
Atlas" CD that I
had never used. Nervously, I installed it. Excellent product.

However, there are some rough bits in Encarta 97 atlas, so I thought I would
buy the current Encarta 2006. OMFG!

Area occupied by Encarta 97 atlas: 93% of screen Area occupied by Encarta 2006
atlas: 58% (42% for GUI!)

The designers have really gone mad on Encarta 2006. When looking at the atlas,
instead of a simple menu that anyone can understand, there are stupidly large
icons to change the type of map. It takes SEVENTEEN clicks to scroll through
the list of icons!

I suppose that some people (babies? idiots?) find the icons more attractive,
but they are so painful to use that you've forgotten what you were trying to do
by the time you work out what icon you want.

I have realised by now that Encarta is intended for kids. Take the "Visual
Browser" for example. When you look at an article, there is a REALLY STUPID
animation on the screen with zero content. If you give in and click "take the
tour" it shows a very attractive whirling ring of icons. It's very clever, and
my heart bleeds when I think of the programming effort required to produce this
nonsense.

Anyway, my nomination for the 2006 GUI Madness award is Encarta 2006.

BTW I use Google Earth and Google Maps and Wikipedia - they're great.

John

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5